


The Building and the Breaking of Fae

by yuletide_archivist



Category: The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-19
Updated: 2006-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 08:51:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1642559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elphaba becomes Fae, for a while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Building and the Breaking of Fae

**Author's Note:**

> Some vaguely slashy hints, nothing overt   
>  Thank you to dancingbelly for the help and beta!!!
> 
> Written for Alchemine

 

 

The Building and the Breaking of Fae

Glinda was seven days gone from the Emerald City, but  
somehow not from Elphaba.

She spent her days quartering the city in a rather  
martial pattern, searching for signs of the underground resistance she was certain had to exist, and Glinda whispered odd comments on architecture and   
unfashionable dress at odd times. Elphaba put it down  
to too little conversation with real, present people and tried to ignore it.

She spent her nights huddled under a bridge in the  
western quarter of the city, catching fitful sleep next to the Quadling woman she'd met on the first day of her search. In her dreams, Glinda never said much,   
but mutely replayed the stricken, tearful moment as  
she realized that Elphaba was abandoning her. Once, Elphaba woke from yet another dream,   
one that left her trembling in terror from the vision  
of Glinda standing gracefully next to the Wizard, a pretty smile on her face until it was eclipsed by a black hood, and a noose around her neck.

Tonight, she'd woken from yet another dream of creamy skin and golden hair, one that  
this time left her trembling on the verge of ecstasy. Taking deep breaths, Elphaba disentangled her angular limbs from her black cape and clambered to   
unsteady feet. She walked to the open air, pulling the  
cape back around suddenly cold shoulders. The days here were still hot and dusty, but tonight's wind was almost cold, with a sharp edge. Elphaba wondered   
idly if there were a weather change on the way.

She glanced up at the quarter's clock tower and winced  
at the time. 'Well,' she thought tiredly, 'I might as well use the rest of the night.' Deliberately setting the dream aside, she flipped the hood of her cape up to shadow her features and set off.

The Emerald City was a different place at night. Most  
of the street lamps in this area were unlit (presumably the poor didn't deserve light) and the streets were quiet. Elphaba walked for a good hour or more without meeting a soul, and was about to turn back for the bridge when she saw firelight glowing against a wall. Her eyes narrowing, she saw a small gathering, one figure standing and silhouetted against the   
light. Her heart racing, she crept closer, straining  
to hear.

The murmuring had resolved into words in a few paces.   
Elphaba flattened against the brick behind her and listened, hardly breathing.

"Hobb, I appreciate your earnestness, but we must be  
more careful than that."

"But Nisse - "

"No! We cannot endanger the cause that way. Be  
circumspect. We must clip the limbs from this tree before we uproot it."

Elphaba tingled, clenching her hands into fists. She  
hovered on the edge of revealing herself, suddenly unsure of what she could possibly say.

A cold piece of metal at her throat snatched that away. Elphaba's thoughts were suddenly narrowed to the edge resting lightly on her   
skin and hoping desperately she wouldn't start to  
sweat; it raised horrible welts.

A harsh voice whispered in her ear, saying something  
menacing she didn't really hear. She wondered if she could kick the knife from his hand, like one of the heroes in the books Glinda kept scattered around   
their room. She decided probably not, and whimpered a  
little.

The talk at the fire stilled. "Leprech? What have  
you found?"

The owner of the knife at her throat grabbed her upper  
arm and frog-marched her into the circle. The orange light made the skin of her knuckles look black. Four suspicious faces looked up at her.

One figure drew close to her, staring at her with  
fire-haunted eyes. Her own eyes narrowed, and she was suddenly, insanely furious. She stood tall, shrugging off the grip on her arm and ignoring the knife.

"I've gotten strange looks my entire life," she  
growled, "You might be more courteous to someone offering her help in your cause."

There was a charged pause, and then a guffaw broke it.

"Ha!" The figure furthest from her settled back  
against the wall, setting his round face into the light. "She's feisty, Nisse."

The leader kept his gaze on Elphaba. "Puck. Quiet, please."

The man's round face creased into an even wider grin, but he kept silent.

The leader - Nisse? - stepped closer to his prisoner. His hand snaked out and flipped her hood back.

Elphaba's eyes widened, her nostrils flared. Locks of her filthy black hair fell forward to frame her flushed face, a light tinge of rose behind the bright green of her cheeks.

Nisse's eyes widened as well, leaning in for a closer look. His brow furrowed, then widened in recognition.

"By the Unnamed God, she's -"

Elphaba cut him off. "Yes. I'm green. And?" By now she was trembling, hands fisted tight, jaw clenched.

"She's safe."

The voice came from the one figure still sitting at the fire, eyes on the flickering light. Everyone turned, Elphaba's captors suddenly hesitant.

"Siren?" Nisse bobbed his head to the figure. Even Puck looked serious.

The sexless figure didn't move. "She is not a spy. She is the one I told you about. The Kumbric witch is her patron. She will serve us well, until she is called elsewhere."

Nisse bobbed his head again, slowly this time, eyes on Elphaba. He motioned Leprech away, and took her by the shoulders.

"If Siren says something, it is always true. She always knows." Siren is a woman, some cataloguer in her head noted. And a seer, too.

Nisse searched her face, took it in his hands. "If you will still have us," he said seriously, "We will have you in our cabal against the Wizard."

Elphaba couldn't look away. She whispered, "My name is - "

Nisse cut her off abruptly. "No, no real names here. I am Nisse. You - you shall be called Fae."

***

Years later, sitting in Fiero's blood spattered around her like a grotesque flower, Fae broke at last, and melted away. Elphaba herself wouldn't return for a year or more, after the maunts had given her the space and time to find her way back to herself, and her memories.

 


End file.
